Tips for hips: How to manage non-arthritic hip pain

Several years ago, Calgarian Carmen Lehmann was experiencing severe hip and back pain radiating into her right leg. It was so disabling, she was sure she was going to need surgery. Lehmann went for an MRI and tried cortisone injections, massage therapy and chiropractic before ending up at the University of Calgary Sport Medicine Centre (SMC), where physiotherapist David Lindsay did a thorough assessment, including a gait analysis, and prescribed her a series of exercises to address the cause of the problem — muscle imbalances that had developed in and around her hip area.

“He pinned down the cause of the pain, which he explained can be common in middle-aged women. He said, ‘Here’s what is happening and here’s what you can do to help yourself.’ Through the exercise program he prescribed, I was able to become pain free and stay that way,” says Lehmann, who is a family physician. She maintains her hip health by continuing to do those exercises, as well as practising yoga, to make sure she stays flexible and strong.

On Monday, April 8, the UCalgary’s SMC is hosting a free public information session, Tips for Hips: Causes and Treatments for Non-Arthritic Hip Pain. The second of a series of public sessions on health and wellness, Tips for Hips will feature a panel of SMC experts discussing the most common non-arthritic hip injuries, as well as hip pain myths, hip pain management and treatment options. This event is intended for everyone from those experiencing non-arthritic hip pain, to caregivers, family, friends and health care practitioners. It will not address the topic of hip replacements for people with arthritis.

“The overall goal is to provide better information to the public,” says orthopaedic surgeon and SMC medical director Dr. Nick Mohtadi, MD. “While hip problems are challenging to sort out, most people are treated successfully without surgery. Everybody always thinks that surgery is the answer to their problems, and it isn’t … Fancy investigations are not necessary. MRIs are not necessary.”

Hip problems are common, and the reasons are multifactorial, according to Mohtadi, the first surgeon in Alberta to do hip arthroscopy as a routine surgical procedure in 2002. Whether it’s muscle imbalances, inflammation, hip impingement syndrome or cartilage tears, hip problems can be challenging to diagnose and treat.

Why is the hip so difficult to sort out? It’s because “it’s deep inside, five centimetres away from where we can touch it,” Mohtadi says. “It’s quite elusive compared to other joints.”

Topics up for discussion at Tips for Hips will include everything from basic hip anatomy to soft tissue problems surrounding the hip, such as sports hernia, groin strains, hip flexor problems and hip bursitis; the use of imaging (X-rays and MRIs) to diagnose hip pain; arthroscopic surgery; non-surgical solutions to hip pain; exercise plans and how to maintain healthy hips for life.

Panel members will include Mohtadi and fellow orthopedic surgeon Dr. Alex Rezansoff, MD, alongside sport medicine physician Dr. Preston Wiley, MD,  and David Lindsay, a world expert on hip rehabilitation. The panellists will use the Kahoot app to encourage audience input and address audience questions.

“It’s interactive audience participation for roughly half the evening,” Mohtadi says.

Surgery should only be a last resort, according to Mohtadi. For Holly Champney, 35, who began experiencing “horrible discomfort” in her hips from her mid-20s onward, it was the right answer.

“Dr. Mohtadi was very cautious about it. As it turns out, it was so amazing I wish I had done it sooner. It’s totally life-changing,” Champney says.

Together with a team of sport medicine physicians and orthopaedic surgeons, the Sport Medicine Centre provides physiotherapy, massage therapy, athletic therapy, performance nutrition and X-ray services to everyone from Olympians to recreational athletes.

Tips for Hips will take place at UCalgary’s main campus April 8 from 7 to 9 p.m. in KNB 132, Kinesiology B Building, 376 Collegiate Blvd., N.W.